Which Campervan Should You Choose For an Epic Road Trip Through New Zealand?

Take a moment to imagine this scenario; You and your boyfriend/girlfriend or a couple of your closest and most fun friends, a few crates of cold beer and your favourite tunes, all packing up and heading off on an adventure around New Zealand, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Pretty damn exciting eh?

Then include the fact that you can travel exactly where you want, for as long as you want, with no hostels to arrange, or pay for, along the way. It’s just you, the open road and a whole heap of awe-inspiring scenery waiting to be explored. Suddenly, ‘exciting’ just transformed to ‘living the dream!’

There is no freer feeling than throwing what little belongings you have, into the back of a campervan and heading off on the open road, stopping between beaches and snow capped mountain trails whenever the fancy takes you.

And that’s exactly what you can expect if you decide to rent a campervan – your travels, your way. Ultimate flexibility, masses of adventure and, best of all, lots of money saved! Perfect.

Which Campervan is the Right One For You?

Below are our favourite campervans, each one fit for an epic adventure around New Zealand. However, these aren’t the only campervan’s you can choose, the selection is huge, so big infact, that I wouldn’t even consider including them all here.

The Escape Van

A super funky, and ultra zippy, mini home from home. The Escape Van might look basic but it offers a whole lot more – kind of like a Tardis, but prettier.

These vans are one of the smallest you can get, but the upshot of this is that you save money – so if you’re keen to reserve the bulk of your travel funds for socialising and throwing yourself off bridges, the Escape Van could be just what you’re looking for…

Perfect for you if: You want to go high on style and low on price. The van maybe basic but the paint job is anything but – you’ll definitely be the talk of whichever town you decide to roll into.

The Mighty Jackpot

The Mighty Jackpot is the brain child of months of travel industry feedback, customer insights and lots of field research. It’s cost effective without scrimping on vehicle quality, design or service.

STA Travel Air Product Exec (and regular blog contributor) Ali has recently returned from a 2 week trip across New Zealand in a Mighty Jackpot camper and to say she was impressed was a bit of an understatement…

“We took the mighty and it was perfect for two travellers. It was large enough that it had everything you needed (a double bed and a hammock, storage for all your bags, a large fold down table to eat your dinner on, a cooker, etc) but small enough that it was really easy to drive – no different to driving a car which made it really easy to zip around and park. Also, because it was so small, you only had to pay the same as cars on ferries and at toll booths

During the day the bed and the hammock folded away easily with all the bedding still on so you didn’t have to worry about making your bed every night – it literally took 30 seconds to change from day to night mode.”

Key inclusions:
– Sleeps 3
– Cooker, fridge and sink
– Fold down bed for extra space in the day
– Social area for eating, card playing and trip planning (including map display).
– Privacy blinds (with magnets) for a little ‘you’ time
– Air-con and heating
– Radio, CD and MP3 player

Star feature: Hammock. Oh, and being in with a chance of winning your trip back every month!

Perfect for you if: You want a good ‘all rounder’ with tonnes of comfort.

The Britz Trailblazer

If you’re keen to combine active days with comfy nights on your road trip, The Britz Trailblazer could have your name all over it.

The bike rack option allows you to transport rented bikes between secluded beauty sports with out compromising any of that precious living space and it’s got a DVD player and screen so that active days spent exploring the vast landscapes on 2 wheels, can be balanced with chilled evenings, recouping energy for tomorrow!

Perfect for you if: You want to combine campervan life with open air exploring. The option of including a bike rack on the back means you can easily transport rented bikes.

The Maui Ultima

The Mercedes-Benz of campers, no seriously, it’s a Mercedes-Benz campervan! It’s about as luxurious as a 4 wheeled hotel room as you’re likely to get.

And while it may work out a little more expensive than the others, you definitely get your money’s worth in terms of standard of living. Think boutique hotel room – on wheels. Want a room with a view *BOOM* park up next to the beach and you’ve got it, at a fraction of the cost!